Wizards rally to jar Bobcats

The wasted 20-point lead. The 19-for-30 foul shooting, including
6-for-13 in the fourth quarter. And everything else that went
awry in a 95-93 loss to the woebegone Washington Wizards, a team
that came in with an NBA-high 56 losses, a team that was 0-14
against Southeast Division foes, a team down to eight players
because of injuries.

"Disgusted. Angry. Disappointed," Felton said.

Here's what's at stake for the Bobcats: They're chasing the
first playoff berth in franchise history and entered the day two
games behind Chicago for the eighth and final spot in the
Eastern Conference.

Here's what's at stake for the Wizards: Every defeat improves
their odds of landing the top pick in June's draft; every
victory improves their odds of avoiding the worst record in
franchise history. And they were well aware that they were
closing in on becoming the first club in league history to go
winless against its division.

"We didn't want to be the first," said Nick Young, who scored 23
points for Washington. "Players, captains, Coach -- everybody
was talking about it."

The Bobcats might just wish everyone would stop talking about
the fact that they're in a tight race for the postseason. They
lost their previous game by 25 points to another last-place
team, Indiana.

"I just feel like we're headed in the wrong direction. We've got
to get back on the right path, defensively and offensively,"
said Gerald Wallace, who led Charlotte with 21 points and 11
rebounds but missed the potential tying free throw with 6.5
seconds left. "I swear, I think this playoff thing -- you guys
mentioning the playoffs -- is kind of messing with our heads."

He failed to complete a three-point play after getting fouled
while making a layup, and then Emeka Okafor and Boris Diaw
grabbed offensive rebounds but missed the putback tries.

"Both guys just rushed the shot," said Antawn Jamison, who
scored 27 points for Washington. "They didn't realize they were
going to be that open."

Diaw's take: "I pushed it too hard."

Eventually, Jamison controlled the ball, was fouled and made
1-of-2 at the line with 0.3 seconds left.

Dealing with all manner of injuries, the Wizards trotted out the
16th starting lineup they've used this season. The only member
of the Wizards' ideal lineup was Jamison, a two-time All-Star
forward. Otherwise, it was Dominic McGuire at the other forward,
Javaris Crittenton and Mike James at guard, and Andray Blatche
at center.

Available off the bench: Young, JaVale McGee and Oleksiy
Pecherov.

"I'm down to eight," Wizards interim coach Ed Tapscott said
before tipoff, and then he dubbed the players he had available
"The Mighty Eight."

In addition to Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood, who have yet
to play this season, and finished-for-the-season Etan Thomas and
DeShawn Stevenson, the Wizards were without Caron Butler
(hamstring), Darius Songaila (nerve problem in neck and
shoulder) and Juan Dixon (strained Achilles' tendon).

And then, something really out of the ordinary happened: McGuire
scored, ending a drought of nearly 2 hours of on-court action
without a single point. His tip-in with 2:06 left in the third
quarter extended the hosts' lead to 69-65.

When Young drove along the baseline for a reverse slam with a
little more than 6 minutes remaining, it put Washington up
87-79.

"We basically just gave it away," Wallace said. "We're not in a
situation where we can just give games away like that."